BERKELEY — When sporting
their campus colors — he in his Cal Band uniform, she in
her varsity crew T-shirt — Tyler Steed and Vanna Rocchi
blend in with their peers in Berkeley's Class of '09. But the
two seniors also wear other campus garb — the khakis, whites,
and blues of the campus's Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps
(NROTC).

Audio clips

Tyler Steed on Navy life and the ROTC
at Berkeley (51 seconds)

Vanna Rocchi on the Navy
and being female in ROTC (75
seconds)

Soon they may don still other uniforms — the scrubs and
lab coats of the medical profession. The two Navy midshipmen,
along with just 10 other students nationwide, have been chosen
to receive a prestigious Armed Forces Health Professional Scholarship,
which provides tuition and living expenses for the medical school
of one's choice, in return for service as a U.S. military doctor
upon completion of one's M.D.

"I was ecstatic. I'm still reeling from it," Steed
says of learning he'd been selected for the scholarship. "Not
many students join ROTC and then go into Navy medicine, he adds. "Vanna
and I are trying to cut our own path."

Between studying for the med-school admission test, completing
applications, playing trumpet in the Cal Band, and serving as
battalion leader at the campus's ROTC unit, "it's been kind
of a crazy ride" he says of his senior year. Currently,
medical-school interviews occupy many of his waking hours.

Steed hopes to become a physician-researcher. (As an undergrad
he's been studying Alzheimer's Disease in a campus research lab,
and hopes to investigate traumatic brain injury). Rocchi — after
shadowing a UCSF surgeon specializing in shoulder and knee repair — would
like to become an orthopedic surgeon.

"I really like the idea of being able to serve my country," she
says. "… Once I realized I could be a doctor in the
Navy, I thought that would be the perfect contribution to society."

Navy pilot's son

The son of a U.S. Navy fighter pilot, Steed lived the classic
childhood of the "military brat," with serial "homes" in
California, Florida, Virginia, Germany, Rhode Island, and Arkansas.
It was a lifestyle he came to like — not only the constant
changes in scenery ("I can't stand staying in one place
for too long," he says), but the small, close-knit Navy
community. No matter where you go in the world, "You'll
see the same faces," says Steed.

Though he once hoped to attend the Naval or Air Force Academy,
Steed learned, as a senior in high school, of a NROTC scholarship.
That opened the door to a civilian education, one that his mother — by
then divorced and raising her children on a teacher's salary — could
afford. After touring the Berkeley campus "on the worst
day you could see it (through relentless rain) and UCLA on the
best (a day of brilliant sun)," Steed chose Cal.

He's felt right at home ever since, he says — even while
toeing the line on buzz cuts, weekly military drills and inspections,
and "zero tolerance" of drug and alcohol consumption.
NROTC students are required to take — on top of the standard
Berkeley course load — courses on naval war history, engineering,
ethics, leadership, management, navigation, naval weapons systems,
and other topics. And each does a summer cruise on a Navy vessel
during his or her college career. Steed's took him to Bahrain
and Dubai, on the North Arabian Gulf.

Now on the final stretch of his undergraduate career, he looks
forward to May 24, when he'll receive both his UC Berkeley diploma
and, in a separate ceremony, his military commission and the
gold pin insignia marking a new rank: Navy ensign.

Navy captain's granddaughter

Rocchi, for her part, hopes that her grandfather, a retired
Navy captain, will "pin" her at the May commissioning
ceremony. The gold bar will go on her lapel next to six ribbon's
she's earned in NROTC for achievements like "physical excellence" and "military
aptitude."

Initially "scared of chemistry," she settled on an
integrative biology major after taking a dynamite human-anatomy
class. For her summer cruise, sophomore year, Rocchi sailed on
the U.S.S. Tortuga, an amphibious ship that was transporting
300 Marines to Australia. Onboard, she was impressed by the ship's
doctor, who "never became overwhelmed, and who took care
of people's minor and major illnesses," says Rocchi. "Wow,
I want to do that too,'" she recalls thinking.

A member of the varsity women's gymnastics team her first two
years at Cal, Rocchi switched sports her junior year. "I
have a competitive spirit, and didn't like sitting on the sidelines," she
recalls. Her dad suggested she try out for crew, where her arm
strength, surely, would be a great advantage. "Little did
I know that it's almost completely legs!" she says.

Rowing, with its steep learning curve, suits Rocchi. "There's
no limits to where you can go," she says. And it doesn't
hurt that that the team is "awesome," as she puts it.
Her physical preparation for varsity athletics has served her
well in NROTC, with its circuit trainings and full-body workouts.
At battalion field meets, Rocchi says, "It's cool to motivate
everyone to keep going. The endorphins are pumping, … the
competition is flowing!"